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  • Green Berets are testing a prototype glider drone for speedy resupply

    From Ron Gleason@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 31 11:54:02 2023
  • From AS@21:1/5 to Ron Gleason on Fri Mar 31 17:58:15 2023
    On Friday, March 31, 2023 at 2:54:04 PM UTC-4, Ron Gleason wrote:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/green-berets-are-testing-a-prototype-glider-drone-for-speedy-resupply/ar-AA19kfq6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=5e1fab5f2ef345a096509a356743dd72&ei=14

    Interesting! No word on the performance of that autonomous glider other than 'range of up to 40 miles.' I guess anything can glide 40 miles, if dropped from high enough.

    Uli
    'AS'

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From [email protected]@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 31 18:23:36 2023
    On Friday, March 31, 2023 at 8:58:17 PM UTC-4, AS wrote:
    On Friday, March 31, 2023 at 2:54:04 PM UTC-4, Ron Gleason wrote:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/green-berets-are-testing-a-prototype-glider-drone-for-speedy-resupply/ar-AA19kfq6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=5e1fab5f2ef345a096509a356743dd72&ei=14

    Interesting! No word on the performance of that autonomous glider other than 'range of up to 40 miles.' I guess anything can glide 40 miles, if dropped from high enough.

    Uli
    'AS'
    Must be a Motorglider!!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Moshe Braner@21:1/5 to All on Fri Mar 31 22:09:38 2023
    On 3/31/2023 8:58 PM, AS wrote:
    On Friday, March 31, 2023 at 2:54:04 PM UTC-4, Ron Gleason wrote:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/green-berets-are-testing-a-prototype-glider-drone-for-speedy-resupply/ar-AA19kfq6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=5e1fab5f2ef345a096509a356743dd72&ei=14

    Interesting! No word on the performance of that autonomous glider other than 'range of up to 40 miles.' I guess anything can glide 40 miles, if dropped from high enough.

    Uli
    'AS'


    40 miles from 30,000 feet (for example) is only about a 7:1 glide ratio.
    But they're not looking for a great glide ratio. Those little wings
    that are offset at the fuselage and open by spring force are for easy deployment, not glide performance. And the thing needs to be dropped
    from a fast-moving airplane, can't have it break apart when dropped into
    air flowing past it faster than Vne.

    There is a video online about a (much smaller) autonomous but GPS-guided
    glider that was designed to fly across the English Channel. They
    couldn't get permission from France to do that, so they flew it from
    Wales to an island some 26+ miles offshore, after dropping it from a
    helicopter at 10,000 feet. It arrived at the island high, and
    (automatically) circled until it was time to auto-land right where
    programmed. Pretty cool. They built a protecting wooden box to hold
    that glider inside of while towed by the helicopter, to avoid breaking
    the glider, until it slowed down and the release was triggered.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Eric Greenwell@21:1/5 to Moshe Braner on Sat Apr 1 08:12:46 2023
    On Friday, March 31, 2023 at 7:09:36 PM UTC-7, Moshe Braner wrote:
    On 3/31/2023 8:58 PM, AS wrote:
    On Friday, March 31, 2023 at 2:54:04 PM UTC-4, Ron Gleason wrote:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/green-berets-are-testing-a-prototype-glider-drone-for-speedy-resupply/ar-AA19kfq6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=5e1fab5f2ef345a096509a356743dd72&ei=14

    Interesting! No word on the performance of that autonomous glider other than 'range of up to 40 miles.' I guess anything can glide 40 miles, if dropped from high enough.

    Uli
    'AS'

    40 miles from 30,000 feet (for example) is only about a 7:1 glide ratio.
    But they're not looking for a great glide ratio. Those little wings
    that are offset at the fuselage and open by spring force are for easy deployment, not glide performance. And the thing needs to be dropped
    from a fast-moving airplane, can't have it break apart when dropped into
    air flowing past it faster than Vne.

    There is a video online about a (much smaller) autonomous but GPS-guided glider that was designed to fly across the English Channel. They
    couldn't get permission from France to do that, so they flew it from
    Wales to an island some 26+ miles offshore, after dropping it from a helicopter at 10,000 feet. It arrived at the island high, and (automatically) circled until it was time to auto-land right where programmed. Pretty cool. They built a protecting wooden box to hold
    that glider inside of while towed by the helicopter, to avoid breaking
    the glider, until it slowed down and the release was triggered.
    Hobbyists' autonomous gliders dropped from high altitude balloons has happened many times, and from the 50,000'+ altitudes they can achieve a long glide. I recall reading about one that measured the winds on the way up, used the data to continously
    calculate the altitude needed to return to the launch point, then released from the balloon while it could still get home.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dan Marotta@21:1/5 to Ron Gleason on Sat Apr 1 10:46:05 2023
    Didn't we see this a few years back? I seem to recall that, in addition
    to delivering supplies, the airframe could be dismantled and the parts
    had other uses in the field.

    Cool idea...

    Dan
    5J

    On 3/31/23 12:54, Ron Gleason wrote:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/green-berets-are-testing-a-prototype-glider-drone-for-speedy-resupply/ar-AA19kfq6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=5e1fab5f2ef345a096509a356743dd72&ei=14

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)